MiTV goes for DVB-H

Last year when the 3G licences were announced, I predicted that one of the license winners, MiTV, might opt to offer digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H).

DVB-H is a technical specification for broadcast services that adapts the technology for digital terrestrial television to the specific requirements of handheld, battery-powered devices.

In other words, it can offer broadcast TV (which is not the same as streaming video) on your mobile phone.

One key advantage of this approach, when compared to streaming, is that there wouldn't be any congestion problems.

With streaming, the more people use the service simultaneously, the slower it becomes. Not with DVB-H.

It seems my crystal ball is not too shabby after all. MiTV has just announced that Nokia Siemens Network will supply it with DVB-H technology.

The service will be part of MiTV's 3G mobile phone service which is expected to be rolled out in the second half of the year with the 018 network code.